272
submitted 2 weeks ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Coast to coast, major U.S. cities are seeing measurable drops in drug overdose deaths. Public health officials welcome the news despite an inability to fully explain the decrease.

After years of rising, the tide may finally be turning on deadly drug overdoses in America.

Drug overdose deaths fell 12.7% in the 12 months ending in May, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

“This is the largest recorded reduction in overdose deaths,” White House officials said in a statement. “And the sixth consecutive month of reported decreases in predicted 12-month total numbers of drug overdose deaths.”

It’s also the first time since early 2021 that the number of estimated drug overdose deaths for a 12-month period fell below 100,000, to 98,820. 

It’s categorically good news. It’s also a bit puzzling to the public health experts who have been working for years to stop the upward trajectory of opioid deaths, driven primarily by fentanyl.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] superkret@feddit.org 49 points 2 weeks ago

It's easily accessible weed, isn't it?

[-] draughtcyclist@lemmy.world 37 points 2 weeks ago

Judging from the fact that Oregon, Washington and Colorado are not seeing deaths reduced my thought is no.

But it should still happen.

[-] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 2 weeks ago

No. It's that most drug users have become aware of narcan, how to use it, and that we started leaving narcan with addicts and their family members after running an overdose call to them, that pretty much all the police, fire, and ems all keep narcan on hand, and that anyone can walk into target and buy the stuff.

Pretty much all the overdoses are from heroin and/or fentanyl. Narcan just gets misted up a nostril and about 2 to 5 minutes later it's taken over the receptors that heroin/fentanyl bind to.

So the drug problem isn't lessening. We just started handing out the antidote to an overdose like candy on Halloween

[-] Schmeckinger@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Better than nothing, since dead people can't seek help. It's always best to fight the source of the problem, but until that's achieved you should fight the symptoms. The only 2 downsides ich can think about is that a solution for symptoms can make people more reckless and some people might fear the cost. But neither should be a consideration compared to the life of someone.

[-] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 weeks ago

Fear the cost? It's pretty cheap. Problem with fentanyl is that you can't really stop the supply. You can make it from way too many different things and the dosage is so potent you just need a tiny amount. It's not like meth where you can control one ingredient and it will cut off a ton of supply.

[-] Ledivin@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

While I'm sure that does have some effect, the vast majority of people using marijuana aren't at an outsized risk of overdosing on other drugs. The vast, vast majority of users don't use anything harder, usually just alcohol.

[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

While that does definitely have an effect, I think the population more affected by that is not the population who are at risk of actually overdosing.

[-] treadful@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 weeks ago

Maybe initially. But long term, if people get into weed through a legal market, they have no reason to engage in the black market, which provides access to lots of other drugs you can OD on.

[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Sure.

No other reason thatn... well, pretty much the exact same reasons there are now. I mean, yeah, it's not nothing that people who sell weed sometimes also deal other substances, but the people introduced to a new substance at their dealers is more a D.A.R.E: thing than what tends to happen in real life.

Legalising weed won't get rid of the use of other substances. We will have to reform the drug laws on all substances.

this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2024
272 points (99.6% liked)

News

23265 readers
3965 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS